Issue #36: Anxiety Explained
Learn about what excessive worrying looks like and which anxiety disorders exist
Dear mental health advocate,
I hope you’ve been well! As I keep reading more and more about people dealing with a lot of anxiety, I thought it would be good to explain to you guys a bit more what anxiety actually means. It’s quite a popular term, so it’s good to get background information. While it is amazing that there is more awareness, it is also important to not use psychological terms lightly. So, without further ado, here’s another free edition of The Present Psychologist Paper.
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Anxiety Explained
The term ‘anxiety’ has become more and more common in everyday language. We see it covered in tv shows, on the radio, social media and also in our daily conversations. We feel anxious all the time it seems. Is it just a popular term, or are we actually dealing with more anxiety nowadays? Well, the numbers do not lie. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 31.1% of adults in the US deal with any anxiety disorder in their lifetime. That’s about one-third of the entire population! What’s crucial to know with regards to anxiety is that psychologists don’t just speak about anxiety, which is considered a temporary feeling, but instead of anxiety disorders.
Anxiety is a very broad, umbrella term. But before I go and explain which anxiety disorders exist, it would make sense to understand a bit what is considered as ‘anxiety’. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines it as follows:
‘Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.’
In many cases people use the word fear as a synonym for the word anxiety, but it is not the same. Anxiety is more oriented towards the future, where people worry about a potential threat that could occur. On the other hand, fear is a similar feeling but then more focused on a perceived threat that is happening in the present. Compare fear with standing close to a ravine being afraid to fall in, and anxiety with worry that you might lose your job this year not being able to financially provide for your family.
The complicated part with anxiety is that it is a worry about things that have not happened yet. I am myself quite an overthinker, so I know from experience how frustrating this can be. On one hand this feels like a safe strategy, because if you worry about something you feel prepared. On the other hand, it is often quite debilitating as you worry about something that has not happened yet and probably will not even occur. In that case, anxiety likely stands in the way of you feeling mentally sane and happy. Especially if the worry just keeps going around in circles in your head.
Which anxiety disorders exist?
As I mentioned before, anxiety is quite the umbrella term. In the handbook that many psychologists and psychiatrists use, the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM-5-TR is the most recent one) currently 11 different types of anxiety disorders are identified:
Anxiety disorder due to another medical condition
Agoraphobia
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Panic disorder
Selective mutism
Separation anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder
Specific phobia
Substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder
Other specified anxiety disorder
Unspecified anxiety disorder
I will not go into detail to explain all of these separately (still need to have enough content for the future!) but I just wanted to show you how anxiety can impact several aspects of someone’s life. Anxiety can occur when presented with specific triggers, like social settings. Many people deal with social anxiety, which means that they struggle when they are in a situation where they might be judged or evaluated by others. Another example is agoraphobia, which can be diagnosed if a person worries, fears and avoids going to places and situations which might cause a panic attack because they believe they will be stuck.
What are typical anxiety symptoms?
As each of these disorders mentioned previously have a different list of symptoms and signs, I want to share the ones that typically result from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) as this one reflects best as to what people would see as being closest to what ‘common anxiety’ is. Please note that having GAD is not the same as just feeling anxious from time to time, it is more a chronic harmful pattern that requires intervention from a mental health professional to cope with. Do not just self-diagnose. The reason why I want to share this list of symptoms is to raise awareness about anxiety disorders overall. GAD symptoms can be described as follows:
Dealing with extreme worry and overall anxiety when a person is presented with certain events, situations, people or specific topics. This worrying has to be excessive and uncontrolled, and often happens at least for six months.
These thoughts and worries are very difficult to manage and almost impossible to control. It is like there is no stopping the anxiety, even though you would really like to. Also, the worrying is not just about one topic. It can easily shift or go back and forth between different topics.
Aside from these anxieties and worries, to be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, at least three of the following cognitive or physical symptoms should be present if you are an adult, and if you are a child then only one:
Struggling with fatigue
Being on edge often or feeling restless
Difficulty with concentrating or zoning out
Feeling irritable
Insomnia/having a hard time falling asleep
How to treat GAD or anxiety?
There are many short-term and long-term options available to treat anxiety. It is good to mention that anxiety is seen as one of the more treatable disorders in the mental health space. One of the most successful therapies to manage GAD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In this therapy you focus together with a therapist on how to change the way you think and the way you act by looking at your thought patterns and triggers. In the short term, one technique that could be useful to apply is the 5-4-3-2-1 method. To calm your anxiety, you should try to name 5 things you see around you, then 4 things you can feel (for example, I am feeling the couch that I am sitting on), 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and finally 1 thing you can taste. If it is hard to taste something in the moment, then try to think of a taste familiar to you.
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My name is Alf Lokkertsen and I am a psychologist and writer, creating mental health content for you. My passion is to raise awareness about topics related to psychology, as it has helped me greatly in my personal life. I strongly believe that many problems could be avoided or dealt with better if everyone had some in-depth psychology knowledge.
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